ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 5, 1997 TAG: 9701070022
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: 8 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: ECONOMIC FORESCAST
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
More advertising by lawyers, the passage of tough criminal laws that have left more people in need of legal representation, and an increasingly complex - and less courteous - society are some reasons the Roanoke Valley's legal profession continues to thrive.
Even the continued popularity of lawyer jokes has not led to a reduction in the demand for their services.
"Everybody hates lawyers, I know. But it seems that nobody hesitates to go to them when they stub their toe getting out of bed," said Randy Cargill, a Roanoke lawyer.
Cargill and other area lawyers say that despite increased competition - membership of the Roanoke Bar Association has grown by nearly 100 members over the past decade - there seems to be plenty of work to go around.
"I don't think we've reached any kind of saturation point," said Brent Brown, who specializes in product liability lawsuits for the Roanoke firm of Carter Brown and Osborne. "I don't know of anybody in our legal community, who's willing to work hard, who doesn't have plenty of work."
Lawyers like Brown, who are long-time members of firms with established client bases, are somewhat insulated from the financial pressures that might confront a recent law school graduate who has just hung out a shingle.
For new lawyers in town, taking court-appointed criminal defense and custody cases is usually a sure way of making ends meet. Contacts established through those cases often lead to future work.
In the field of criminal defense, the passage of new laws - including lowering the blood-alcohol level for drunken driving, allowing police to seize the operators licenses of suspected drunken drivers and the abolition of parole - have all created more work for lawyers.
With personal injury cases, some lawyers are turning more to advertising as a way to drum up business.
"Lawyer advertising, although it's usually billed as simply informing consumers of their rights, is generating more business for lawyers and making people more litigious," said Salem lawyer Jeff Dorsey. "I think that all the advertising is exposing people to the notion that every time something goes wrong in their life, they can sue somebody."
Many lawsuits stem from a basic loss of courtesy in today's society, some lawyers say. "I've had so many cases that never would have been filed if someone simply would have said, 'I'm sorry,'" Dorsey said.
Other lawyers are finding business in the area of employment law, with more discrimination and sexual harassment suits being filed over workplace conditions that might not have been challenged five or 10 years ago.
For the larger law firms - which often represent companies in business-related litigation - recent years of corporate downsizing have created new challenges.
Firms such as Woods, Rogers and Hazlegrove, the largest in the Roanoke region, recently have made organizational changes and have become more aggressive in recruiting clients and marketing their services. Although the firm opened offices in Charlottesville, Richmond and Washington, D.C., last year, 1996 also saw the departure of more than a half-dozen prominent lawyers to other firms.
"I think the shake-up you're seeing at Woods Rogers, and perhaps some of the other large firms, is a recognition of the fact that the big corporate clients are becoming more cost conscious when it comes to legal services," said Cargill, a former associate with the firm.
"They aren't just getting the bill and paying it anymore. They're looking it over and wondering if it really takes three-tenths of an hour to write a two-sentence letter."
A year ago, Woods Rogers and Hazlegrove was ranked by Virginia Lawyer's Weekly as the fifth largest law firm in the state, with 78 lawyers. Firm president Heman Marshall said there are currently 69 lawyers on staff, although there are plans under way to hire more. (Marshall's figures were different than those listed by Virginia Lawyer's Weekly; he said the firm had 72 lawyers a year ago.)
"I would say in a nutshell that 1996 appeared to be a good year for business in the Roanoke Valley, and thus for the firm," Marshall said. "But I think our clients are still expecting us to be as flexible in adjusting to a new business environment as they have to be."
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